Tchaikovsky featured in final spring Symphony Syracuse concert

Symphony Syracuse will present the final concert of its spring series on Friday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater of the John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 411 Montgomery St., Syracuse. The featured work is Symphony No. 5 by Peter Tchaikovsky, a work from the summer of 1888. Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance in St. Petersburg later that year. Despite his initial fears that the work was a failure, Symphony No. 5 is one of the most-played symphonies in the entire symphonic repertoire and an audience favorite.

David Alan Miller, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, is making his Syracuse debut with this concert. He will be joined by cellist Julie Albers, a Syracuse favorite. Albers will be soloist in Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto.

Tchaikovsky may have feared that the first performance of his symphony had been a failure, but Elgar was sure that the premiere of his Cello Concerto was a flop. Due to an inadequate number of rehearsals, the performance was a disaster. It would be more than a year before the concerto was heard again in London.

The concert begins with the overture to “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein. While Bernstein’s operetta “Candide” has had relatively few performances, the overture is one of the most performed orchestral works by an American composer.

Tickets are available from the Syracuse Opera Box Office, 315-476-7372 or http://www.syracuseopera.com. For more information, visit http://symphonysyracuse.org.